Bedside manner II – Hearts in Bloom
by Orion Matrix
Summary: The Sequel to Bedside Manner. After Ruby's food poisoning, she and Weiss grew closer, as both partners and friends. But as Ruby's birthday draws near, Weiss finds it more and more difficult to keep her feelings purely platonic, unaware that Ruby is in the same situation.


Bedside Manner II – Hearts in Bloom  
By  
Orion Matrix

Chapter one – Preparations

Beacon academy was as lively as ever, the students studying in class, with varying levels of success, or taking part in combat exercises with the rest of their teams, be it in the training arena, or in the forests around the prestigious academy.

Team RWBY were now in the arena, partaking in a two-on-two style duel. They had been separated into their respective pairs, Yang and Blake against Weiss and Ruby. Glynda Goodwitch stood off to the side overseeing the battle while other students in the class simply stood and stared, slack-jawed and awed as the four girls took their combat to levels the class had never conceived.

Yang remained back from the core of the battle, continuing to offer long-range cover for Blake while continuing to avoid shots from Ruby, her repeated sniper fire forcing Yang to move every few moments and reducing the effectiveness of her cover to that of a mere nuisance, leaving Weiss virtually unchallenged as she entered into close range sparing with Blake. It certainly didn't help that with every few shots Ruby relocated herself before Yang could get a bead on her younger sister, and with all this she was somehow able to fire off an occasional shot that made Blake have to dive out of the way, unable to put as much pressure on Weiss as she would have liked.

That wasn't to say that Ruby and Weiss were having an easy time of it, despite using training ammunition, Ruby was still using a high-powered sniper rifle, and needed to be careful to never aim above the torso lest she take out a team mates eye with her shots. And as for Weiss, she was starting to become rather frustrated at Blake's agility and combat flexibility.

'It's understandable though, what with her heritage.' Weiss thought with minor annoyance, dodging out of the way of a katana strike from the slightly older girl. The recent revelation that Blake was actually a Faunus had rocked the entire team. It happened almost a month ago, and there was not a single member of the team who had been unaffected. Weiss herself found it particularly difficult to deal with.

===

They had managed to get into another argument about the White Fang, and while Blake didn't deny everything that Weiss had said about the organisation, she was obviously becoming more and more upset as Weiss referred to the members of the White fang as psychotic murderers.

It got to the point where Weiss revealed that she had seen what the White Fang were capable of and told how she and her family were victims of the White Fang's aggression, painfully telling of how friends and family had been persecuted and killed by the White Fang for decades, not seeing the sadness that clouded Blake's face.

As Ruby tried desperately to calm her partner with a gentle hand on her shoulder, Weiss had finally snapped, screaming at Blake how the White Fang were a bunch of psychotic murdering madmen who held no restraint and would kill anyone in their way and have done for years, be they innocent or not.

When Ruby had touched Weiss' shoulder, a sudden, horrifying thought tore through her head, and her mind conjured the scene of Ruby being kidnapped, tortured and then murdered by the White Fang, if for no more reason than the girl was associated with Weiss, and therefore the Schnee Dust Company.

Just the mere thought terrified the heiress to the deepest part of her soul, and it had pushed her well past her limits, the thought of Ruby being hurt because of her being more than her secretly fragile heart could bear.

"Well maybe we were tired of being pushed around!"

Blake's answering scream had stopped the argument dead in its tracks, and left everyone staring at her in shock and disbelief. After a moment, looking around with growing fear, Blake had charged out of the room so fast that none of them could even follow the movement, let alone even consider catching her. All the while, Blake's words echoed through their minds.

'We' was the key word in that statement, the one that none of the girls could seem to get passed. Weiss could barely handle it, laying on her bed and curling into a ball, the thought that she had lived with a member of the White Fang causing her blood to run cold. It was even worse knowing that she considered Blake to be a friend, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't stop thinking of Blake as such.

They had found Blake a few days later, in a quiet corner of the academy grounds that was rarely travelled by students. Yang had insisted they look for her, wanting to make sure her partner was alright, and Ruby had instantly agreed to help, her nature ensuring she could do no less.

Weiss however was still afraid and conflicted, and the only reason she decided to go was so that she could protect Ruby if Blake decided to lash out. But inside her mind, she couldn't give the thought any truthful credit, because as much as she tried to deny it, she was worried about Blake as well.

As they saw the Faunus girl curled up and quietly crying, Weiss felt her heart go out to her, the sympathy surprising, but intense. Blake had seen them and tried to run away, but Ruby had been prepared for this and tackled the older girl, wrapping her arms around Blake's waist and not letting go, no matter how hard Blake screamed and struggled.

When Yang, and eventually Weiss, had joined in, holding Blake gently and supportively, Blake had finally broken down sobbing for over an hour, holding on to those dear to her. After a time they went back to their dorm room and they had talked about everything, or more accurately, Blake had talked while the others had listened.

Blake spoke of the abuse she had suffered at the hands of people prejudiced against the Faunus, and had even shown them some of the scars that adorned her back, earning shock from her team mates, and how she had learned that the White Fang were fighting for Faunus liberation and equality, something that Blake wanted with all her heart.

She then spoke of her time with the organisation, attending every rally and demonstration, moving up to become an active participant of the group's operations, and how after the White Fang's leadership had changed, the missions she went on becoming more and more violent.

She had steadfastly refused to kill anyone, and the White Fang higher-ups had reluctantly conceded to this, sending her on missions where a body count was not essential, but they assigned her a partner, someone who was willing to get their hands dirty if it became necessary, or possible.

Finally Blake told them of her last mission, a raid on a Schnee Dust Company train carrying a huge cargo of dust, and how Blake's partner Adam had been so willing to kill the train's crew members, much to Blake's horror. Weiss had stiffened at this, but when Blake explained how she had left, severing the train cart connection, she had remembered the incident Blake was talking about, an incident that happened over half a year before.

The rear coaches had contained small amounts of worn out refining equipment, some unprocessed dust and defensive androids that had been made to defend the company's mining operations, although they were programmed to activate in the event of an attack on the train. But the more valuable refined dust was in the forward coaches, just behind the locomotive along with the train's crew members.

Blake's actions had left the White Fang with unprocessed dust which was difficult enough to refine with top of the range equipment, and what machinery the White Fang recovered was next to useless. The operation ended up costing the white fang far more than they gained, and even if she wanted to Blake could never go back to the White Fang, knowing that she would be shot on sight as a traitor.

Weiss still had some reservations on trusting Blake that she couldn't get over, but Blake's next words had soothed them drastically.

"I joined the White Fang because I wanted to make things better for the Faunus of the world, so they wouldn't be persecuted, hated, just for being a little different. But the group I joined changed and I didn't see the White fang any more, it was so corrupted and bloodstained, they should have called themselves the Black Fang. They think killing for the cause is justified, but...no matter how badly I was hurt as a child, I never wanted to kill anyone. I'm not a murderer."

The team stayed in their dorm, talking long into the night, and it became clear to the upset and still somewhat frightened Faunus that she was safe here. She was shocked though when Weiss had hesitantly apologised, not for what she had said in general, but for unknowingly implying that Blake was a murderer.

Both girls remained hesitant around each other for a few days, but as the old adage says, 'time heals all wounds' and eventually they were comfortable working together again.

"Would you stop jumping around so I can freeze you already!?" Weiss called out, growling as Blake jumped out of the way of Weiss' ice attack with a small smile on her face.

"I'd rather not if you don't mind." Blake had replied, firing off a few shots with Gambol Shroud and forcing Weiss to back away.

"As a matter of fact I do mind!"

From her place away from her two team mates, Ruby smiled, knowing that it had been so difficult for Blake and Weiss to get over the events of the last few weeks. Despite everything, it made her happy to see the girls swapping playful banter.

The current situation had actually turned out better than they had thought. After Glynda had explained the exercise today, Ruby had spoken quietly to Yang, and both sisters had decided to stay out of the main Duel, letting their partners spar with each other and work through any leftover tension.

Ruby had told Yang the other day that Weiss, while doing better working with Blake, still felt a little uncomfortable, and wasn't very surprised when Yang said Blake was in the same boat, so letting their partners cut loose on the arena floor sounded like a very good idea.

===

"Ruby! Left side!"

Ruby blinked and jumped to the right, suddenly bringing up Crescent Rose to her left hand side to defend against Gambol Shroud. Before Ruby could say anything, Weiss leaped over and swiped with Myrtenaster, forcing Blake to disengage and move back.

"What happened?" Ruby called to her partner with surprise, both moving closer and standing almost back-to-back to guard against attacks from any side, noting Yang moving around the arena more than she had been before.

"I'd guess that Blake's had enough of the chit chat and wants to get down to business. And by the way...thanks, I know you set this up; it's just like you." Weiss turned to her partner and smiled softly.

Ruby for her part just blushed uncomfortably, surprised she had been found out so quickly.

"W-well I...your welcome." Ruby tried to brush the situation off, but found she couldn't, just chuckling as she switched Crescent Rose to its Scythe mode. "What about you? Done with the 'Chit-chat' too?"

Weiss was about to respond when Yang fired a few shots towards her and Ruby. Bringing Myrtenaster down hard on the ground, a wall of ice erupted between the two pairs, blocking the shots easily. Weiss stood up and smirked confidently at Ruby.

"Yeah I'd say we're finished. Now I think it's about time we showed those two how it's done and win this thing."

Ruby just grinned, knowing that Weiss was truly having fun for the first time in a very long while. It warmed her deeply to see Weiss finally starting to relax and enjoy herself during their lessons, to the point where she would even join in with the antics of her team mates. Never during the theory lessons, it had to be said, but these things take time.

Spinning Crescent Rose behind her and brining it forward into a determined ready stance, Ruby smirked at her friend.

"Then let's Dance partner."

On the other side of the field, Yang and Blake had regrouped after Weiss put up her ice shield, and the partners immediately started planning.

"Ok, I know Ruby's attacks like the back of my hand, she'll use Crescent Rose' Sniper as a propellant and take advantage of the confusion it causes to attack from just about any angle. But if you get close enough you'll force her into a defensive stance. At close Range CR will probably end up knocking you away with a nasty lump, but the fact is Ruby isn't too good at *very-close* range, that's the best way to get her." Yang instructed, completely ignoring the fact that all the girls knew their team mates fighting styles quite well, having learned them over the last few months.

Blake nodded, knowing all of this, but appreciating the reminder none the less. In the heat of battle, some remembered lessons and information can occasionally fly out the window, so the brief refresher was useful.

"Thanks, and Weiss is exceptionally skilled in very-close range fighting, mostly fencing style sword play, but her Dust abilities make her very dangerous, she can immobilize opponents with Ice or using glyphs, and then move in to do serious damage. Best way to stop her is to overwhelm her with long-range fire, and when she gets tired, move in fast."

Yang nodded, remembering that Weiss was trained mainly for duelling with swords, so the heiress had to rely on her dust for any long-range opponent.

"Ok, so you'll go for Ruby and I'll go for the princess then?" Yang asked eagerly, her hair already shifting as if it was being played with by heat eddies. Blake simply shook her head and smiled at this behaviour, knowing that her partner liked a good scrap as much as Blake herself liked a good book.

"Sounds like a plan, let hope it's as effective as your plan with Ruby earlier." Under her bow, Blake felt her ears twitch in satisfaction as Yang blinked in surprise.

"What plan? I don't know what you're talking about!" The blonde asked, grinning sheepishly and rubbing the back of her head.

Blake simply shook her head with a bemused smile before she brought Gambol Shroud up into a ready stance, noting that in the heat of the Arena, Weiss' ice wall was starting to crack, melt, and fall apart.

Yang followed her partners lead, glad that she seemed to be off the hook. The fact was that Blake didn't like people playing her or messing with her life, it reminded her too much of the last few months she spent in the White Fang before she left the group, and although it was with the best of intentions, the fact is that Yang had pretty much done exactly that with Ruby. But Blake knew that the sisters had done it with the intention to help, not to cause upset, so it didn't really bother her.

In fact, she felt truly touched that the sisters cared enough to try to help her work through her difficulties with their teammate, and because of that she couldn't feel upset.

Weiss and Ruby were also quickly planning what they would do in the next few moments.

"What do you think we should do?" Ruby asked Weiss, tasking a quick glance at Crescent Rose to make sure it was still ready for battle.

"Knowing your sister and Blake they're hoping to draw us into short-range fighting. That's ok for me but you'll be limited, you usually cut your enemy into pieces when they get that close, and that wouldn't go down to well with Goodwitch if you cut Yang or Blake in half." Weiss spoke thoughtfully, noticing Ruby frown in agreement.

"I wouldn't like that too much either." Ruby muttered with obvious concern.

"How fast can you spin Crescent Rose? Fast enough to block shots from Ember Celica?" Weiss asked suddenly, the corner of her mouth twitching up slightly at the adorably confused look on Ruby's face.

"Uhh...I think so...why?"

"I think Yang will target me, and pepper me with long-range fire to make me use up all of my dust and then come in to finish me off. And I think Blake will try to attack you going into close range knowing you won't use any fatal attacks. What I'm thinking is make it seem like that plan will work then suddenly swap targets, you blocking Yang and firing back while I go after Blake. Then when they seem to get over the surprise we switch again. The more we do that the more unbalanced they will get and then we can capitalise on their confusion and take them out."

Ruby looked at her 'sweetheart' appraisingly, hefting it slightly and thinking about Weiss' plan. Usually whenever Crescent Rose was moving that fast, Ruby was moving with it, she had never been in a situation where she needed to spin her weapon that fast when not moving and wasn't entirely sure if she could manage it.

Weiss saw the uncertainty on Ruby's face and reached over, putting her hand on her team leader's shoulder, smiling reassuringly as Ruby looked back in surprise.

"I know you can do it Ruby, don't worry." Weiss' gentle words of encouragement calmed Ruby's concerns, and she nodded her head with a determined smile.

With a sudden series of loud cracks, the ice wall in front of the two pairs shattered, disintegrating into tiny shards reminiscent of stars that fell to the floor of the arena, disappearing from view.

"Ready or not here comes trouble!" Yang yelled, charging forward with Blake at her side.

Ruby and Weiss glared at their opponents, holding their ground side by side until the very last moment. After a split second it became obvious that Weiss' guess had been completely accurate, Blake moving quickly towards Ruby and Yang taking aim at Weiss with Ember Celica.

When Blake was only three strides away from engaging Ruby, and Yang started firing at Weiss, the two partners shot into action, Ruby moving forward and spinning Crescent Rose at an almost impossible speed, her teeth clenched in concentration as Yang's shots impacted harmlessly with Ruby's blade.

At the same time Weiss passed behind Ruby and quickly locked blades with Blake, Gambol Shroud and Myrtenaster impacting with a resounding clang that echoed throughout the arena. Weiss took a moment of satisfaction as she saw Blake's eyes go wide in surprise, realising that their plan had been perfectly predicted and ripped to pieces almost instantly.

The blades of the two weapons sparked brightly against each other as the girls jumped back, getting a short amount of distance between them before they charged in again to attack. At the same time, Ruby suddenly jumped up and transformed Crescent Rose and fired a few shots at Yang, who swore loudly and jumped out of the way.

After regaining her bearings from the unexpected move, Yang's eyes narrowed in sinister pleasure, and started running towards Ruby, still firing every other step and dodging Ruby's sniper fire. The gap between the sisters was closing rapidly, and Ruby moved back a few steps, a nervous sweat beading over her brow.

Unexpectedly Ruby and Weiss came together back to back, Blake and Yang closing in rapidly and raising their respective weapons for the finishing blow, and without a word or glance the girls spun around and brought their weapons up to defend against the incoming attacks.

Another even louder metallic crash echoed through the arena as the four weapons of team RWBY collided, and the assembled audience looked on incredulously, no one having expected that move.

Without wasting any time, Ruby and Weiss went on the offensive, striking quickly at Yang and Blake, forcing the young women back and into a desperate defensive stance. Glynda looked on at the flow of the battle, deeply impressed at what she was seeing. Ruby and Weiss having predicted the attack of their team mates was impressive enough, but somehow the two had managed to manoeuvre their attackers into position to completely turn the tables, and were now pushing their targets back, isolating them from their partner yet keeping themselves covered from a rear attack.

So surprised and impressed was she that Glynda didn't even remember to call time on the Duel, the ten minute time limit having expired just after the unexpected reversal.

Again almost as if it had been communicated, Ruby and Weiss swept their legs forward at the same time and tripped their opponents, causing them to fall to the ground with surprised grunts and cries of shock. As Blake and Yang opened their eyes after their fall, they stopped seeing the blades of their opponents pointed directly at them, no one daring to Duel was won.

"And Time! That was an extremely impressive display ladies. You all did very well, demonstrating intuition, efficient tactics, and improvisation. You should all be proud." Glynda called across the arena as Weiss and Ruby helped their team mates up. Blake smiled slightly at Ruby, noting the younger girl grinning brightly, and Weiss forced herself to keep her face neutral, lest the pouting blond saw the heiress smiling.

"That's so not fair! We should have creamed you!"

Weiss allowed herself to smile slightly, but did her best to keep it friendly.

"Well I'm sure you and Blake will pulverize us next time."

Yang's grin turned slightly feral and she nodded confidently at Blake, who along with Ruby had joined up with the current talk.

"Oh trust me; next time you won't know what hit you!" Yang said, going over to Blake and initiating a series of high Fives with the slightly bemused Faunus. Weiss and Ruby simply looked at each other with a smile, Weiss winking in a conspiring manner causing Ruby to giggle.

"Alright girls, we're still in a class." Glynda Goodwitch called with an amused voice, and team RWBY immediately walked over and stepped off the arena floor to join the rest of their class mates.

"Ok, now there were several elements in that Duel that could have been improved on, nothing major, just some polish if anything," Glynda said to the class, casting a friendly smile to Team RWBY's members to make sure they didn't think she was picking on them before turning back to the rest of the class. "Did anyone pick up on anything off?"

The class seemed to remain silent for a few moments before a hand in the back row raised and drew the attention of the whole class.

"Mister Winchester? Your thoughts?" Glynda asked, her brow rising imperceptibly.

"Yeah I spotted something, why was the team leader not leading?" Cardin stated, his overly confident smirk making him look like a preening bird.

Cardin Winchester is a student who didn't really inspire any favour within the school's faculty for a very simple reason; he's the quintessential school bully. Several teachers have noticed his lack-lustre attention, often appearing dismissive of teachers and students alike during lessons, and he has been reported for many counts of bullying during lunch breaks, most notably against Velvet Scaslatina and Jaune Arc.

The only people who seemed to get along with Cardin were the members of team CRDL who seemed to greatly approve of his bullying but were the first ones to leave should anyone stand up to him.

Glynda gave the student the attention required by her position but wasn't expecting anything particularly insightful, yet her attention was caught when she noted that Weiss, Blake and Yang had stiffened in clear annoyance, and Ruby herself seemed almost nervous.

Glynda had a sinking feeling that the bully had found a new victim.

"All through that 'Fight'," Cardin said, punctuating fight with air quotes. "All I could see was Schnee telling Rose what to do at every step, jump to the right, do this and do that. The leader is supposed to give orders to the subordinates! Not the other way around!"

"Actually it was 'Left side' Mister Winchester." Glynda responded with a cool tone, knowing that the situation was coming dangerously close to spiralling out of control, considering the glares being directed at Cardin by three quarters of Team RWBY, specifically from Yang who looked as if she was getting worryingly close to losing her temper.

"Left, right, what's it matter? The point is a leader's job is to LEAD, not follow! A leader who doesn't give direction in battle sounds like a pretty pathetic leader to me." Cardin retorted, insulted that Glynda had pointed out his obvious mistake. Once he finished speaking however his self-satisfied smirk was back in full force, and seemed to grow larger when his team mates made sounds of agreement behind him.

"Why don't you come over here and say that to my FACE Cardin!?" Yang yelled out, her eyes starting to turn a bright red once she noticed the dejected look on Ruby's face.

Ruby herself couldn't help but feel very small at that moment, because after all was said and done, Cardin was right; she hadn't given a single order throughout the Duel, just followed instructions given to her.

The fact was that Ruby still had quite a few self-esteem issues to deal with, especially when doubts arose about her position as leader, sometimes she felt like she just wasn't good enough for the role. It was something that didn't come up often, but her team always did their best to reassure Ruby that she was doing well.

Weiss, having noticed Ruby's deteriorating mood, immediately moved over to her partner, putting a comforting hand around Ruby's shoulders. Ruby tried weakly to pull away but when Weiss' grip remained strong, she instead just turned her head away sadly. Idly Weiss noticed that the class's attention was on the brewing argument between Yang, Cardin, and Goodwitch, and she capitalised on the distraction immediately.

"Don't listen to that buffoon Ruby; you're doing a great job as leader." Weiss spoke with gentle tones and a bright smile, hoping to cheer Ruby up, but her smile slipped a little as Ruby's shoulders dipped lower.

"Thanks for trying Weiss, but you know he's right, I'm just not cut out for this..." Ruby muttered, trying to fight back tears.

Weiss frowned before turning Ruby around and pulling the younger girl into a warm hug, ignoring the way Ruby stiffened at the unexpected contact, and briefly considered how much she had changed in the two and a half months since Ruby came down with food poisoning. Before that incident, which still caused her to shudder with equal parts anger and worry whenever she thought about it, Weiss would have never dreamed of being so affectionate with the younger girl.

The fact was she knew that things had changed irrevocably between her and Ruby, that her feelings wouldn't let her just stand idly by and tell her partner to just suck it up and get on with the lessons as she would have three months ago.

She couldn't stand seeing Ruby so upset.

"Ruby, remember what I said that night after Professor Port's first class? I said I think you have what it takes to be a good leader. The only thing I was wrong about is that you're learning to be a great leader. I can see it every time there's an exercise; you're paying more attention to what resources you have available and relying on your team more and more. And you have something that moron doesn't; you have the loyalty and support of Weiss Schnee, something few if any could even hope to brag about."

It took a few moments, but Weiss eventually felt Ruby returning the hug, and she could almost feel the smile on Ruby's face.

"Thanks Weiss, you're the best."

Meanwhile, Glynda was trying to keep some kind of order, and having a rather difficult time of it. After Yang's 'response' to Cardin the class had started discussing things rather loudly, some almost agreeing with Cardin but most were shocked at the bully's audacity. It took a few moments but eventually the class calmed, and Glynda could turn her attention on the two still glaring students.

"Miss Xiao Long, please restrain yourself, this is a class, not a bar. And although it could have been delivered in a less confrontational manner, Mister Winchester dose have a partly valid point. Can anyone here give me a reason why Miss Rose's actions were not entirely inappropriate?"

Glynda made sure to cast a severe look at Cardin when mentioning his confrontational manner, and turned around, indicating Ruby, who the woman noticed with relief was smiling again and paying polite attention, Weiss standing at her side and offering support. The sight of Weiss' arm still around Ruby's shoulders made the teacher smile before she turned her attention back to the class.

For a moment no one said anything, either not sure of the answer or not wanting to incur the burden of Cardin's wrath should someone shoot his argument down. However the response came from a rather unexpected source.

Standing at Glynda's left hand side opposite team RWBY, Jaune Arc and team JNPR were listening to everything that had been said but didn't get involved, they wanted to stand up for their friends, but none of them could really think of anything to add to the discussion. However when Goodwitch had asked the class for their thoughts, Pyrrha gently nudged Jaune in the ribs with her elbow, smiling encouragingly as he looked at her with confusion. After a moment, he nodded and raised his hand hesitantly, catching Goodwitch's attention.

"Mister Arc? Your thoughts?"

"Y-yeah, well...It's true that the leader's job is to direct things in battle but sometimes battle can change things completely, and a leader has to be able to listen to good advice and not just giving orders. If you don't listen to the rest of your team you could miss something important, or the team members could have an idea that's better and safer."

Pyrrha nodded kindly with a soft smile, even as Jaune felt like shrinking considering the looks his classmates were giving him.

"That's...very insightful Mister Arc, and absolutely correct. Mister Winchester, you would do well to consider this in the future." Glynda said, getting over her surprise and casting a significant look at Cardin, who was quietly fuming. He knew there wasn't much that he could do, especially after the events of Forever Fall a few months earlier where Jaune had actually saved Cardin from an Ursa. After all, it was only fun for him when his targets didn't stand up for themselves and fight back.

Before Glynda could say anything more, a chime echoed throughout the arena, indicating the end of classes.

"Alright class that's it for this morning. After lunch we'll be in Professor Port's class while he's taking another class on a field trip. Make sure you collect your text books before class, because we'll be working on something a little different today. Dismissed." Glynda called after checking her watch. She looked at the students and nodded politely, smiling ever so slightly towards Team RWBY, specifically Ruby, before she turned away and walked out of the arena, heading to the office she shares with Ozpin.

The students all started to exit the arena, after Cardin and his team had stormed out ahead of everyone else. Team RWBY ended up following everyone else out and soon found themselves walking toward the cafeteria with team JNPR.

"I hope you didn't pay too much attention to Cardin, Ruby, you know that he'll take advantage of any opening, no matter what it is." Ren said almost immediately, looking towards Ruby with a friendly half smile.

"He's right Ruby, I didn't see anything wrong with that battle myself." Pyrrha piped in, wanting to add her view into the situation as she walked next to Jaune, both of them ignoring how close they currently were to each other. Be that deliberate or not, no one would ever know.

"And next time he says anything just let me know ok?! I'll be happy to break his legs for you!" Nora called out enthusiastically, prompting her friends to all chuckle nervously. It was always difficult to tell if the excitable girl was joking or not.

"Errr...hehe, thanks Nora but its ok, I don't think that will be necessary." Ruby said with a nervous laugh. Thankfully Nora didn't seem disappointed. Her offers of excessive violence had been turned down so often that she was probably used to it by now.

As the group walked down the hallway with Ruby leading the way to the cafeteria, Weiss put a small part of her plan into action and very quietly slipped an envelope into Pyrrha's hand, holding up a finger to her lips to ask the older girl to not say anything, and receiving a curious nod in response.

Weiss was mentally reviewing everything she needed to do, mindful to keep her expression neutral in case Ruby spotted anything. Yang and Blake were already in on the secret, and there were only two more people to talk to and the surprise would be just about ready.

Weiss had been looking forward to this day for the last three weeks, and she made sure not to let slip the reason she was so happy recently.

Today was Ruby's 16th birthday.

End of chapter one

===

Well people have asked for a sequel, and I'm happy to say that's what you are all getting!

I'm sorry for the wait, things have been hectic what with the Christmas period and all, but I'm slowly but surely getting things sorted with this story. This time though I'm not going to put it all into one chapter and split it up, it felt really weird having to split it up, especially because I had a lot of trouble getting things in place so that the separations didn't feel forced.

Now, I am going to continue this story, don't you worry about that, but it will take some time, just like everyone else I have real life commitments that eat into a lot of my personal time and I have trouble getting the opportunity to write, especially when I get hit with writer's block, and that's the reason this took a bit longer to release than I would have liked.

I've added a link to my Deviant art page on my profile, there's a picture there that I made and if you enjoy Bedside Manner and this story I think you may like it. Please take a look when you have the chance. That pic is also the story image I'm using as well.

I'll get the second chapter posted as soon as I can, so bear with me.

All the best.

Orion Matrix


End file.
